Is He A Simp?

After returning to the VR pod, Bjorn immediately noticed a much larger crowd of players around him. Many people in the region around him- mostly mainland European players- had now had enough time since the end of the standard workday to finish their first quests and reach a level high enough to leave the confines of the city.

Players weren't the only ones around, though.

Groups of NPCs gathered around the city exit, handing out hunting quests to the players.

They could receive some bonus XP and gold in return for handing the items they acquired over to the NPCs when they returned.

There were even a couple official-looking men wearing uniforms similar to those of guards, but their quests were a bit different from the rest.

On the board, there were details of a few larger foes, along with warnings to stay away from the areas they roamed.

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Wandering Ent Lvl 6-16 (Center of forest).

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Elden Wolf Pack Lvls 3-15, 1-10 pack members (Anywhere in forest).

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…

…

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Along with the info on a few dangerous beasts roaming the area, there were also listings of humans. Each had a bounty under the name and short description- it was the same for the beasts, though the bounties on the humans were much larger.

As Bjorn scanned through the list, his eyes widened a bit. Some of the names were more typical and were most likely NPCs. A few of them, though, were clearly players.

No sane parent would name their child 'RootbeerManiac._.'.

Bjorn rubbed his chin as he looked at the listing.

'Well, maybe… I mean, it would explain why this guy is listed as having killed over twenty players and civilians already.'

The thought of Bjorn himself ending up on that list completely escaped his mind as he made mental notes to look out for all of the listed dangers. A few of them even had items listed as kill or capture rewards, and while he couldn't see the exact details of the items, Bjorn was sure that they were much superior to what he had currently.

Almost every high-reward listing was on a higher-leveled foe though, not anyone Bjorn could take on, even with his skills.

Having all the reflexes in the world wouldn't help him from being one-shot by an AOE attack or the enemy's defenses being too tough to pierce.

There was a single quest that could potentially be done.

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Midnight Thief Sapphire- Lvl ??? (Est. Lvl 18)

Class: AGL, Unknown

Appearance: A young woman with sapphire blue hair, sparkling navy eyes, and a devious smile. Extremely beautiful.

Notes: Has stolen something important from Baron Egdon. Capture alive and in good condition. Do not escalate to fatal conflict. **Do Not KILL**

Bring her to Baron Egdon for a reward of 10 silver coins and 'Egdonian Dagger (Epic)'.

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Capturing a determined NPC was much more difficult than just killing them, especially considering how the target was of an agility class.

Be it a hunter, assassin, or any of the other vast array of available classes, all of them would have some escape tools.

Still, it was the only target under level 20 with an additional reward, so Bjorn added the post to his mental list of stuff to watch for.

'It's around 17:15 right now outside the game. I'll play for a few more hours before logging off to do a bit of exercise, then sleep.'

A few hours was plenty of time to start on the quests he'd noted down, as well as potentially KSing or killing random players he ran into out in the forest.

Most of the hunting quests didn't need to be directly accepted and could instead be completed just by bringing back the correct materials, so Bjorn was able to note down a large number of them to watch out for all at once.

Bjorn departed from the city, alone this time, nodding to the same guard who was still on duty at the front gate. This time, the guard looked a bit worried and didn't even seem to recognize him as he walked past.

'Hm, just like a real person. I never really paid attention or talked to NPCs in my past life, but they really are just like real people, aren't they? They can even be distracted and space off while on the job. Heh.'

Bjorn followed the path he'd walked on earlier that day, heading back to where he'd killed the previous group.

He had completely forgotten to go back and check on the busy that they'd seen moving around just before the conflict, as he'd gotten caught up in chasing down the final enemy.

Now that he was going to be heading back into the woods anyways, he figured that he might as well check it out.

Even if whatever removed the buses was long gone, or potentially already hunted by another player, he had to go deeper in to find higher-leveled prey, so it wouldn't be a wasted journey.

It didn't take long for Bjorn to make it to the clearing that'd hosted the battle, and just like how he'd expected, whatever had caused the disruption in the bushes before was long gone.

After taking a few moments to look around, Bjorn continued on through the forest, eventually coming upon a small stream cutting through the dense woods.

The terrified sound of screaming rang out from the edge of the flowing water, and Bjorn craned his head over some bushes to see what exactly was causing such a commotion.

A single player was pinned beneath a wolf, her arms flailing helplessly, trying to push the beast from atop her. Two more wolves stood by the side, but instead of helping finish off the girl, they seemed to be enjoying watching her struggle.

The attacking one was noticeably smaller and weaker, providing an explanation for how the girl had lived up to this point.

'Damn, it looks like she's in trouble. I need to get in there and help!'

Bjorn shot forward out of the bush, already preparing a fireball as he lunged at the biggest of the three wolves.